刑讯 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

xíng punishment

Phonosemantic compound. 刂 represents the meaning and 井 represents the sound.

Components

井 Sound component

jǐng well

Modern form looks like 开.

Change in form

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 井 than it was in ancient scripts.

刂 Meaning component

dāo knife

刂 is a component form of 刀.

Character Evolution

Bronze form — Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

型硎

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	heng	[ɢ]ˤeŋ	punish(ment)
	heng	[ɢ]ˤeŋ	model, form

說文解字

《說文》：“，剄也。仌刀，幵聲。”

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

xùn inquire Simplified

Simplified form of 訊. Depicts a mouth (口) interrogating a captured prisoner of war (卂). 卂 also represents the sound. The 口 (mouth) component was later reanalyzed as 讠 (speech).

Components

讠 Iconic component

yán speech

讠 is a component form of 言. Originally 口 (mouth). Later reanalyzed as 讠 (speech).

卂 Sound Iconic component

xùn to fly rapidly

Depicts a captive prisoner with their hands tied behind their back.

Sources

Character origin: 漢語多功能字庫中華語文知識庫
Readings & variants: Unicode

xùn inquire Traditional

Depicts a mouth (口) interrogating a captured prisoner of war (卂). 卂 also represents the sound. The 口 (mouth) component was later reanalyzed as 言 (speech).